Glitches leave parents hassled on last day of EWS admissions

NEW DELHI:

Parents

were an

aggrieved lot

on the last day of

filling

up

online registration forms

for

EWS seats

in

private schools

due to alleged

portal

malfunctions and

“incorrect mapping”

.

Santosh, a resident of Mehrauli, wanted his ward to get admission in a private school under the EWS category. While filling up the form, he was informed that some schools in the 3-6 km radius had vacancies, but he was finally allotted one in Najafgarh — over 15km away. Santosh, a worker in a private hospital, said he had been trying to get his son admitted in a private school under the EWS category since the beginning of this year, but was not allotted any seat in the first draw of lots in January. However, after the directorate of education announced that seats remained vacant and fresh applications were called, he decided to give it another try. “I went by the bus, and it took me over 2 hours to get to the school. I thought sending a four-year-old alone like this will not be possible,” he said. “But then I wanted to send my son to a private school, his future was at stake, so I completed the formalities anyway,” he added.

The school, too, informed him that transport facilities would be available in a 5km radius only. The director of education, Sanjay Goel, however said no complaints had been received on any such cases. “There could be a problem with the mapping and it can be sorted on a case-by-case basis,” he told TOI. He also added that there had been few applicants for the EWS quota, which prompted the department to call for fresh applications.

Satyaprakash, who works with a local group to help people fill up EWS admission forms, said several parents faced trouble going past the first phase of the process. “I was there in Bawana JJ camp a few days ago, and had around 15-16 cases where the application form did not move forward after filling of personal details,” he said.

DoE told TOI that no such issues have been raised with the department yet, though problems related to schools and seats have been brought up.


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